Who is the youngest Avalanche player in rookie camp/training camp? We’re splitting hairs. Defensemen Duncan Siemens and Dillon Donnelly were both born on Sept. 7, 1993 and turned 18 one week ago. If their mothers are reading, maybe they can shoot me an email or comment below about what times their sons were born, and we’ll know who is the baby of the bunch.

By the way, look for a Siemens story in Thursday’s paper and online. The kid gained eight pounds since being selected No. 11 overall in June and worked hard in Canada over the summer. Does the rugged blue-liner have a chance to make the opening-night roster after the club acquired veteran big-bangers Jan Hejda and Shane O’Brien in July?

I talked to Siemens after today’s Day 2 rookie camp gathering, which included twin no-check scrimmages with veterans on the sheets at Family Sports Center. It was a casual atmosphere on both rinks, with defensemen cherry-picking and mid-ice conversations about bad passes while the puck was in play. The calm before the storm, eh?

Forward Peter Mueller and goalie Semyon Varlamov, who both missed Tuesday’s first day of rookie camp, skated today with the other vets after the rookies went from 9 to 10 a.m.

Mueller, who missed all of last season with post-concussion syndrome, said he feels fine. “Every time I’m out there I feel better,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming, 18 months without doing anything. It’s coming back and I’m excited to get going.” I also asked him about his band, playing guitar, and he said that was key in helping him kill time during his recovery.

Varlamov returned from his native Russia after attending the funerals and lending support to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, the Kontinental Hockey League team that was wiped out when its chartered jet crashed last week, killing all 28 players, two coaches, seven other staff members and 44 people overall. We’ll try to talk to Varlamov on Thursday.